TRANSPORT chiefs have been accused of ‘burying their heads in the county's potholes’ by a disappointed councillor.

Cllr Mohammed Hanif, Wycombe District Council’s ward member for Oakridge and Castlefield, has bemoaned the state of the area's roads.

And he says Buckinghamshire County Council is ignoring the craters in the roads and simply hoping they will disappear instead of dealing with them.

Cllr Hanif said: “I have been contacted by residents in my ward who are very unhappy that their county councillors have not reported potholes.

“These are category one potholes and if reported they should be repaired within 24 hours. Instead, our county councillors have been sticking their heads in the sand, or indeed the pothole, hoping the situation will go away.

“Oakridge Road was re-surfaced only a few months back and already there is a large pothole, revealing the quality of the work that was carried out."

Sajid Ali, the owner of a Wycombe taxi firm, said he is “fed up” with the condition of the roads, particularly in and around Castlefield.

He said: “Potholes are causing huge amounts of damage to people’s cars. It’s about time the county council started taking complaints seriously”.

Another resident, Nick Morris, took photos of potholes at the junction of Kingshill Road with North Road, which were only repaired by BCC’s much heralded Velocity Patcher in October.

BCC said it has invested £30m into resurfacing almost 300 roads over the past two years as part of its We’re Working On It programme – with 8,570 problems repaired between October and December alone.

It added 98 percent of category one potholes had been repaired within 24 hours of the problem being reported to it.

Peter Hardy, Cabinet Member for Planning and Transport, said: “Maintaining our roads is one of our top priorities.

“Of course a lot more needs to be done if we're to meet the expectations of our residents and so the council will be asked to approve a new £25m programme to start this Spring.”

Cllr Wendy Mallen, who represents the Castlefield area for the county, said: “We want to work with our residents to make sure potholes are repaired quickly.

“Don't keep them your street's best kept secret - let us know where they are and we'll do our best to deal with them speedily.”

Any potholes requiring urgent attention should be reported to the council's contact centre - 0845 230 2882.

All other road defects can be reported online at www.buckscc.gov.uk/transport.